Palais Windisch-Graetz, Baroque palace in Innere Stadt, Austria
Palais Windisch-Graetz is a baroque palace located in Vienna's Innere Stadt at Renngasse 12 near Freyung. The building features a grand staircase crafted from Kaiserstein and preserves many original structural elements that underscore its status as an important architectural monument.
Built in 1702–1703, probably by Christian Alexander Oedtl, for Johann Carl Freiherr von Geymann, who died in 1709. Through the Freiherrn von Mannsperg it passed in 1731 as an inheritance to the foundation of the Großarmenhaus in Alservorstadt, today's AKH. In 1755 Countess Maria Theresia von Windisch-Graetz bought it for 30,000 gulden; her grandnephew Alfred inherited it in 1816. Alfred III had Emil Bressler renovate it in 1894–1895, and in 1935 the Klosterneuburg monastery acquired it.
The palace displays the refined taste of Viennese nobility through its ornate facade details and carefully planned interior layout. Walking past the building today, visitors can still observe the baroque decorative language that expressed the family's social standing.
The palace stands at Renngasse 12 in the Innere Stadt, a short walk from the Freyung. It is used as an office building, so the interior and the Kaiserstein staircase are not open to visitors; the baroque facade can be seen from the street.
The grand staircase uses steps and landing slabs of Kaiserstein, a hard limestone from Kaisersteinbruch; the Beletage was heavily altered at the end of the 19th century. Since 1935 the building has belonged to the Augustinian Canons of Klosterneuburg and is used as offices.
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